The most recommended Renaissance books

This book presents six vignettes of sex and violence plucked by Thomas Cohen from the archives of the papal governor of sixteenth-century Rome.

I love Cohen’s passion for telling a good story without losing sight of its broader historical significance. Examining the everyday lives of people in the streets, Cohen reveals how a clash between the contradictory currents of Italian Renaissance society fueled much of its conflicts and discontents.

On the one hand, Christian religion preached mercy, forgiveness, and community, on the other the compelling codes of honor, familial loyalty, and unwritten social rules promoted violence and vengeance.

The book also reveals how women and other socially marginalized figures could navigate and manipulate these codes to find space and freedom in a world dominated by powerful men. 

The Three Graces is set in Tuscany, and I could feel the sunshine on my face as I read this sumptuous novel.

Set over just two weeks in May, with the planning of a wedding at its heart, it embraces a huge cast of characters (young and old, rich and poor, kind and mean) and a wide range of issues (including racism, refugees, immigration and generation rent versus baby boomers). All of which are woven skillfully into a delightful story.

The eponymous Three Graces are three elderly ladies who have moved separately to Tuscany to live out their retirement. "Between them, they had 4 breasts, 5 eyes, and 3 hip replacements." Ultimately, this is a tale of friendship. 

Written by the first Chosen Chief and founder of the Order Of Bards, Ovates and Druids (OBOD), it was published posthumously in 1990 from lost work rediscovered in 1984.

Based on remains of British or Brythonic Druidism combined with texts from the Druidic revival of the 18th century onwards and the author’s own ideas and research, it is one of the most valuable and practical texts of the modern Druidic path.

It is not an easy book to read, written in a rather academic and haughty style, but still it is well worth the effort of reading.

This brief tale offers a profound exploration of an artist's inner journey. It delves into the insecurities and fears that often haunt creative minds.

The protagonist's quest for inspiration, intertwined with a surprising twist involving her beloved poet, adds captivating layers to the narrative. It elegantly portrays the elusive essence of art, where the artist's intent can diverge from the audience's perception.

As an artist, I found it deeply relatable—a poignant reminder of the intricate dynamics within our creative pursuits. This narrative is a valuable gift to fellow artists, beautifully articulating the pursuit of visibility and the complex interplay between creator and audience.

I found this book by accident, scrolling around TikTok with my new account (joestillmanauthor) while attempting to get the word out about my own novel.

The author was highly recommended, so I chose this particular book by chance, and instantly got caught up in a crime novel set in Cromwell’s England, circa the 1650s. The world was so vivid and reel, I became a civilian reader, carried along from one amazing scene to the next.

This simply had to be written by someone who was there at the time. The danger and stakes were fraught, the mystery engaging, and the long length of the novel only made me glad there was so much of this book to enjoy. 

De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem ["On the Fabric of the Human Body in Seven Books"] will likely catch you by surprise since, unlike most books featured on this website, this one was printed back in 1543. Fortunately, this means that anyone with a working Internet connection and web browser can access this mystifying medical atlas from the sixteenth century. Annotated editions of On the Fabric of the Human Body are available online from numerous medical colleges, so please take the time to find and appreciate this masterpiece of anatomy and artistic imagination.

Whether or not one wants to make a case for the modern humanities deriving from the studia humanitatis in Renaissance Italy, it is undeniable that Renaissance humanism has been a source of endless fascination for humanities scholars. I enjoyed this book partly because it shows how this fascination led seventeenth- and eighteenth-century scholars to “recapitulate practices and mentalities that Italian Renaissance humanists pioneered.” It is such borrowing and reapplying that explains how a “humanistic tradition” could take shape. Another intriguing point is Celenza’s argument that this tradition has historically revolved as much around wisdom as about knowledge. While we modern academics know very well how to produce knowledge, what has happened to the wisdom part? Can the humanities survive, Celenza asks, without “reflection on the self and on life”?

I loved this book because it’s a biography that reads like a novel and because its subject is a woman who was celebrated in her own time but has been almost totally forgotten since.

In an age when “respectable” women were discouraged from writing and publishing, Vittoria Colonna became one of the most revered poets of the Renaissance, moving in the same circles as popes, princes, writers, and artists.

I love how Targoff brings to life Colonna’s different environments – from the rocky island of Ischia off Naples, where she lived as a newlywed, to the convent where she sought refuge after the death of her husband (who inspired much of her poetry). I also appreciate the nuanced presentation of Colonna’s friendship with Michelangelo, which shows us how influential she was as his spiritual mentor. 

How did cities come to exist? What comprises of a city definitionally?

This book starts at the beginning of man’s entry into this world to the modern city on how the city has evolved over time. The book provides an excellent framework for what a city is and why the concept of what a city is definitionally, is so important to understand from a historical and evolutionary context. 

I love reading Montaigne. Montaigne offers a wide window into the human experience.

He combines a grand knowledge of literary tradition with incredibly insightful commentary on human psychology. His focus on the outlier and the extraordinary in his observations and short essays (e.g., the cannibals in early modern Brazil) challenge our suppositions about the world.

He served as mayor of his local city of Bordeaux for several years, and while he expresses some skepticism toward the good that grand politics can do, he still encourages his readers to seek to better their world in the ways that are available to them.